Select committee: Petitions Committee
Conclusion 11
First Report - Impact of Covid-19 on new parents: one year on
Published 7 Oct 2021
Paragraph 42
Petitions Committee Impact of Covid-19 on new parents: one year on All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Despite existing guidance on protecting vulnerable workers on the Health and Safety Executive website and Working Safely guidance on GOV.UK, many pregnant women still report health and safety concerns at work. Adhering to this guidance should not be seen by employers as optional and there is a need to intensify messaging and enforcement to ensure new and expectant parents are, and feel, safe at work. Given that pregnant women were designated as clinically vulnerable, we are surprised to hear that HSE are not formally recording breaches of health and safety with regards to pregnant women and associated enforcement action.
From: Petitions Committee, First Report - Impact of Covid-19 on new parents: one year on (HC 479), paragraph 42, 7 October 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 7 March 2022 (deadline 7 December 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government sets out funding and support for new parents but states it "will not be developing an isolated strategy" on the pandemic's impact, and "will not be launching an independent review of childcare at this time".
- On mental health and early years support, it points to existing and announced measures, including £100 million for bespoke mental health support for new and expectant parents and a £500 million families and early years package over three years.
- On redundancy protection, it "remains committed to extending" protections for new and expectant mothers and intends to introduce the measures "as soon as Parliamentary time allows", without giving a date.
- On extending the time limit for employment tribunal claims, it "continues to look closely" at the change but says it "will be given sufficient time for consideration".
- On Maternity Allowance in Universal Credit, it states "We have no plans to change the way that Maternity Allowance is treated in Universal Credit."